Combined photogrammetry and mechanical testing of fired clay brick

A novel experimental tensile apparatus and testing methodology, developed in order to define necessary material parameters for mathematical formulation of a constitutive model of fired clay brick is presented in this paper. In order to account for irregularities in sample geometry, a photogrammetry workflow for digital 3D reconstruction of samples was conducted, and non-dimensional coefficients accounting for geometric irregularities of test specimen was introduced. Mechanical tests were carried out on a series of fired clay brick specimens, sampled from brick blocks. Statistically analysed experimental data, corrected with the aforementioned coefficients, yielded modulus of elasticity, Poisson’s coefficient, and extreme tensile stress/strain relationships that, were used in the proposed numerical constitutive model.